what am i doing wrong

fished the severn yesterday this is a brief on what happened.
set my wychwood 1.75 tc barbel rod up hair rigged luncheon meat with 3oz grippa lead on running ledger rig, 3 foot hook link just on edge of fast flow. turned round to get something rod almost flew from rest picked it up fish on for about 3 sec's then nothing reeled in bait gone same thing 2 or 3 more times i use curved size 10 hooks. cannot seem to keep or hook a fish whats going wrong any suggestions
was unable to use freespool due to weed catching line on surface.

That's a tricky one to answer not being there. One thing, it shouldn't be the length of your hook link as I regularly use a good 5'.
Jerry
PS Just a thought - did you try the meat directly on a bigger hook (no hair) to compare - was the meat too big for the hook size?

If it were me then, in the first instance, I'd be looking to alter the length of the hair. Next step would be to look at experimenting with hooklengths. However, it really wouldn't surprise me if you are being done by wily old chub. They have an exceptional ability to rob hair rigged baits, giving solid tip indications, without the hook passing their lips.

to add a twist i was told never to strike but chatting to a local tackle dealer was told i should strike any views on this

Usually with the full on wrap around bite there's little need to strike. But in my experience, a strike is needed to pick up the line with more subtle bites. From the earlier posts I think the both Sam and Jerry (sorry, sounds like Ice Cream ) have said it all.

thanks for that guys

fruitowl said:

fished the severn yesterday this is a brief on what happened.
set my wychwood 1.75 tc barbel rod up hair rigged luncheon meat with 3oz grippa lead on running ledger rig, 3 foot hook link just on edge of fast flow. turned round to get something rod almost flew from rest picked it up fish on for about 3 sec's then nothing reeled in bait gone same thing 2 or 3 more times i use curved size 10 hooks. cannot seem to keep or hook a fish whats going wrong any suggestions
was unable to use freespool due to weed catching line on surface.

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Personally I would not be putting my rod in rests, I would be touch ledgering so that I would get much earlier indication of a bite and so recact less violently. Although I don't know the swim, I have to wonder if a 3oz grip lead is necessary? That seems to be a lot of weight for a river. Whenever river fishing I always preferred to use the minimum amount of lead possible. I never worried too much about the lead losing grip from time to time as that meant I would cover more of the swim with my bait. Indeed, especially in summer conditions, I would prefer to use a " Rolling ledger" as opposed fishing statically. Fish that are ignoring stationary bites will often take a moving bait and they will generally take them very confidently. Fishing a rolling ledger is not the easiest method to master, but it is an extremely deadly method when perfected and is well worth spending the time and effort to get the hang of it.

It might also be worth trying a larger hook as well. Perhaps the No10 hook is not giving the holding power you need.

hello my names Daniel i would like to know if there are any rivers which hold carp in essex. Thanks

Fruitowl......are you sure it was a fish that pulled your rod from the rest and not something being washed downstream? ..... i dont know how experienced you are in heavy flood water?

hi berty at time of post in august rivers were not in flood slightly above norm maybe.
i since changed the way i put bait onto hook and on next trip had 2 x 4lb barbel missed a couple but thats fishing

I never read the date mate, sorry.......the big bites could be chub, they can give wrap around bites but still be missed on hair rigs, barbel are usually hooked.